Container feeding machine



Jan, 12, 1965 J. B. wEsT 3,165,233

CONTAINER FEEDING MACHINE w ,"3 JEM; f/La/WLVL.

ATTORNEY Jan. l2,

Filed sept. 25, 1963 1965 J. B. wEsr CONTAINER FEEDING MACHINE 5Sheets-Sheet 2 JOHN B. WEST ATTORNEY Jan. l2, 1965 J. B. wEsT CONTAINERFEEDING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 25, 1963 INVENTOR JOHN B.WEST FIG. 3. 32 I 12%.

ATTORNEY Jan. 12, 1965 J. B. wEsT CONTAINER FEEDING MACHINE 5Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Sept. 25, 1963 Ilbl-lll I IIIIILIPII..

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Jan. 12, 1965 J. B. wEsT CONTAINER FEEDING MACHINE:

5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 25, 1963 INVENTOR JOHN B. WEST FIG. IO.

Hwy/W ATTORNEY United States Patent C) 3,165,233 CONTANER FEEDHNG MACHNEJohn B. West, Pikesville, Md., assigner to Maryland Cup Corporation,Owings Mills, Md., a corporation of Maryland Filed Sept..25, 1963, Ser.No. 311,381 3 Claims. (Cl. 221 221) This invention relates to feedingmachines and it is more particularly concerned with machines for feedingcontainers of various kinds from a stack of nested containers, such aspaper and plastic cups and tubs, ice cream cones, etc.

An object of the invention is the provision of a feeding machine of thetype mentioned which supports a stack of nested containers anddischarges them one by one on cyclic actuation of an operating member.

Another object of the invention is the provision of such a machine whichis adapted for use in conjunction with filling machines that dispensesmaterials of various kinds, such as food, into the containers. v

A further object is the provision of means for cyclicly supporting andreleasing a stack of nested containers at the bottom thereof incombination with cyclic means cooperating therewith to alternately gripand release the penultimate container of the stack, thereby permittingthe lowermost container to fall away and be separated rfrom the stack.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of means forcyclicly supporting and releasing a stack of nested containers at thebottom thereof in combination with cyclic means coacting therewith toalternately grip and release the penultimate container of the stack andfor exerting a positive force downwardly against the lowermost containerwhen the penultimate container is gripped so as to insure separation ofthe lowermost container from the rest of the stack.

A still further object is the provision of a container feeding machinewhich is long wearing and adapted for prolonged periods of continuoususe as a manufacturing facility.

These and still further objects, features and advantages of theinvention will appear more fully from the description which followshereinafter in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view, partly broken away, of an embodimentof the invention especially adapted for flat bottom paper cups or tub,attached to a filling machine, the latter being shown fragmentarily.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional View along the line 2 2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan sectional view along the line 3 3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a plan sectional view along the line 4 4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of a fragmentary portion along theline 5 5 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is an elevational view of the frame skeleton parts of theembodiment, with some parts broken away.

FIG. 7 is another elevational view of the frame skeleton parts of theembodiment as seen from the right side of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a top plan view of the skeleton frame parts, partly brokenaway.

ICC

FIG. 9 is a vertical sectional view along the line 9 9 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 10 is an exploded view in perspective of certain parts of theembodiment.

Referring to the drawing with more particularity, the embodiment isillustrated in reference to a container filling machine 11 having arotatably mounted horizontal loading wheel 12 which is provided withapertures 13 foi receiving the containers to be lled. The fillingmachine alone, however, forms no part of the present invention.

A stationary wall 14 of the filling machine adjacent the wheel 12 isprovided with a mounting bracket 15 opposite the space between aLconsecutive pair of the apertures 13 when the loading wheel is in itsstationary or resting phases between intermittent rotational movements.The location of the bracket is in advance of the filling station (notshown) of the lling machine or of the initial iilling station if thereare more than one, such as where a plurality of materials are to beloaded into each container successively. 1

Spacers 17 are provided between a beam 16 comprising part of the frameof the embodiment and the bracket 15 about mounting screws 1S.

The device, when so mounted, extends outwardly from the Wall 14 over theloading wheel 12 and comprises a pair of spaced upper transverse ribs19, 19 and a pair of corresponding lower transverse ribs 19A, 19A whichcorrespond to and normally straddle the apertures 13 of the loadingwheel when the wheel is in the resting phase of its cycle of operation.The spaces between the ribs comprise passageways through which thecontainers ypass from a pair of nested stacks of the containers 20. Theribs are connected to the beam 16 by bolts 20A.

The containers illustrated comprise conventional stii paper cups or tubsand they are supported in the form of nested stacks which can extendabove the beam 16 and be laterally retained by means of a group ofvertical guide rods 21 with extension sections 21A set about the spacesbetween the ribs. The guide rods 21 are provided in threadedlyengageable sections and they are mounted on the ribs 19 and 19A as shownin FIGS. 6-9. The spaces between the ribs may be reduced for smallersize containers by inserting shims 20B between the ribs and the beam 16.

The stacks of containers are each intermittently supported by a pair ofswinging arms 22, 22 on diametrically opposite sides of the stack.

The arms 22 each comprise a pair of matching side members 23 and 24which are secured at the bottom to a cross bar 25 by means of screws 26.

To the bottom of the cross bar 25, there is secured an inwardlyextending tinger 2'7 by means of a bolt 28 for engaging the bottom side29 of the lowermost container 3l? of the stack when the arms 22 are intheir closest position to each other. The arms are pivoted at theirupper ends to the pintles 31, 31 carried by brackets 31A on the innerpair of rods 21, 21 between a shoulder 31B of the lower section of eachrod and the botom side of the adjacent rib 19A. The ribs 19A are biasedoutwardly by means of tensioned coil springs 32 mounted on the pintleshaving in each case one of their ends 33 secured `to a stationary point34 of a rib 19A, and their other ends 35 secured to the respectivearmsvto urge the 3 f arms to rotate on their pintles to the outwardpositions shown by the broken lines in FIG. 1.

The stacks above the lowermost receptacles are each alternatelysupported by a second pair of vertical arms 36, 36 which are hingedlymounted on the same pintles 31 between the side members 23 and 24. Thelower ends of these arms each have horizontal portions which arebifurcated to provide a pair of spaced lingers 38 and 39. The fingersare adapted in their innermost positions to contact opposite walls ofthe penultimate cone 37 of the stack.

Between each pair of fingers 38 and 39 there is disposed a horizontalange 40 of a vertical bar 41. The bars 41 are adapted to reciprocatevertically when the fingers are engaging the walls of the penultimatecontainer of the stack. By means of this reciprocating motion, theflanges 40 move downwardly and contact the rim of the lowermostcontainer 30 of the stack and urge it to disengage from the stack, if ithas not already been disengaged under the force of gravity alone,thereby insuring a positive feeding action of a container on each cycleof operation. To effect this reciprocating motion, the vertical bars 41are disposed on the inner sides of theirrespective arms 36 and areattached by bolts 42 and 43 to camming blocks 45 through a vertical slot46 of each arm 36 and an offsetting shim 37 is interposed between it andthe bar 41.

The camming blocks 4S are each provided with a camming slot 48 -throughrwhich a camming rod 49 extends transversely. The camming blocks 45 arehollow and they are each provided on the interior with a retainer cup 50the lower end 44 of which bears against the top of the correspondingcammingrod 49 under the action of a coil spring 51 on the interior ofthe cup, the upper end of the spring bearing against upper wall 52 ofthe block 45. By these means the blocks 45 are each constantly urgedupward relative to its respective camming rod 49. Thus, as the rods movedownwardly in the camming slots 48 the blocks are maintained in theiruppermost positions under the force of the springs 51 until the rodsreach the bottom of the camming slots whereupon they force the blocksdownward and carry with them the bars 41. In moving downward, the rods49 in the camming slots force the arms 46 inwardly due to the slope ofthe inner edges of the slots 48.

The camming rods 49 are rotatably mounted on a vertical carrier block 53and the portions 54 thereof in contact with the camming blocks45 areeccentric relative to the axis of rotation on the block 53. The middlesections 55 of the rods 49 have threaded portions 56 which engage thethreads 57 of a transverse lead screw 59 rotatably mounted in the block53. The lead screw 58 is provided with a finger knob 59. By turning theknob, the portions 54 can be adjusted to different positions ofeccentricity relative to the camming blocks in their verticalreciprocation and, hence to vary the camming action for difference sizecontainers within limits. The carrier block 53 is secured to the bottomof guide rods 68, slidably mounted in the beam 16 and is urged to adownward position relative to thebeam by means of coil springs 61between the bottom of the beam and the top of the block 53. The springs61 are mounted on pins 62 that are secured to the block 53 and whichproject upward into sliding engagement with sockets 63 of the beam 16.The pins so mounted and slidably engaged with the sockets also serve tolimit the relative movement of the block toward the beam.

The guide rods 60 extend upwardly above the beam 16 and are secured to acrossbar 64 by bolts 65. One end 67 of the bar 64 is adapted to abut apowered reciprocating shaft 66 of the filling machine. The other end ofthe bar 64 extends outwardly and it is provided with a knob 67 forinwardly manipulating it such as may be necessary in engagement anddisengagement of the opposite end with the shaft 66.

by the powered shaft 66 it carrier with it the block 53V which supportsthe camming rods 49. In the uppermost position of the block 53 thecamming rods are at the upper ends of the camming slots 48. In thisposition of the block, the camming rods are also in contact with offsetshoulders 68 of the arms 22, thereby forcing the arms to their innermostpositions against theLaction of the springs 32. In this position, too,the vertical bars 36 are in their outermost positions by reason of theposition of camming rods 49 in the upper end of the camming slots 48.With the arms 22 in this innermost position, the fingers 27cooperatively engage the lowermost container of the stack and thussupport the entire stack, while the fingers 38 and 39 are free' ofcontact with any container of the stack.

As the bar 64 moves downwardly, it carries with it the block 53 andcamming rods 49. 'I'he downward movement of these camming rods intheslots 48 forces the camming blocks 45 inwardly, carrying with them thevertical arms 36 and the lingers 38 and 39. The camming rods, in movingfrom their uppermost positions to their lowermost positions, first reachintermediate positions at the bottom of the camming slots 48 and thefingers 38 and 39 engage the sides of the penultimate container of thestack. As ther-camming rods continue to move downwardlyrthey bearagainst the camming blocks at the bottom of the slots 48 and therebyforce the blocks downwardly. As these camming blocks moverdownwardlythey carry with them the stripping fingers 40 which are attached to thecamming blocks and cause them to engage the upper rim edge of thelowermost container of the stack. This engagement causes the containerto become disengaged from the stack, if it has` not alreadybecornedisengaged under the force of gravity.Y In theirlowermost positions, thecamming rods ride ,off the shoulders 68, thereby permitting the arms 22to spread apart under the action of the springs 32 and clear a path forthe disengaged container to fall through to the loading wheel 12.

On the upward movement of the camming rods, the shoulders 68 arere-engaged to bring the arms 22 to their innermost positions and thengers 38 and 39 are retracted thereby permitting the stack to fallincremently and be supported again by engagement of the lowermostcontainer with the fingers 27 whereupon the cycle of operation isrepeated.

In the case of containers having different diameters, the movement ofthe fingers 38 and 39 can be adjusted within the limits of eccentricityofthe rod portions 54 by ksimply turning the knob 59.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A-container feeding device comprising a stationary Vmember having avertical aperture for the disposition and passage of a nested stack ofthe containers therethrough; a first pair of arms hinged to the memberon opposite sides of the aperture; jaws carried by said arms forengaging the bottom container of a nested stack of containers extendingthrough the aperture; a second pair of 4arms hinged to the member onopposite sides of the stack having jaws for engaging the sides of thepenultimate container of the stack projecting above the bottomcontainer; first resiliently yieldable means urging the said first pairof arms outwardly to positions clear of the containers; secondresiliently yieldable means urging the said second pair of armsinwardly; means for moving said iirst arms inwardly to cause the jawsthereof to engage the bottom container of the stack againstV the actionof said first resiliently yieldable means while holding the second pairof arms clear of -the stack against the action of the said secondresiliently yieldable means and for releasing the said first pair ofarms under the action of the first resiliently yieldable means to causethe jaws thereof to engage the said penultimate container with the saidsecond pair of arms and disengage the said rst pair of arms from thestack; stripping means slidably attached to the said 5 second pair ofarms for exerting a downward force against the bottom `container of thestack when the said rst pair moving means comprising rods movable inpaths adjacent to said arms, and blocks slidably attached to the saidsecond arms, said blocks having slots in which said rods.

are disposed, said blocks having` camming surfaces for engaging saidrods, saidV rods being rotatably `rnounted along their longitudinal axesand having eccentric portions in camming contactk with the blocks tovary the limits of motion of the arms in order to adapt the device todifferent sizes of containers.

2. A container feeding device as defined by claim 1 and means forrotating the rods relative tothe blocks. 3. A container feeding deviceas 'defined in claim 1 in of arms are in the released position and thepenultimate container is supported kby said second pair of arms; saidwhich the rods arevrotatably mounted in a reciprocating I 1,964,335 6/34Wessman 221-221 2,730,268 1/56 Moesch 221-221 2,974,828 3/61 Matteson221--221 3,057,515 l0/62. Loeser 221-221 3,104,780 9/63 Carter et al.221-221 RAPHAEL M. LUPO, Primary Examiner.

LOUIS I. DEMBO, Examiner.`

1. A CONTAINER FEEDING DEVICE COMPRISING A STATIONARY MEMBER HAVING AVERTICAL APERTURE FOR THE DISPOSITION AND PASSAGE OF A NESTED STACK OFTHE CONTAINERS THERETHROUGH; A FIRST PAIR OF ARMS HINGED TO THE MEMBERON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE APERTURE; JAWS CARRIED BY SAID ARMS FORENGAGING THE BOTTOM CONTAINER OF A NESTED STACK OF CONTAINERS EXTENDINGTHROUGH THE APERTURE; A SECOND PAIR OF ARMS HINGED TO THE MEMBER ONOPPOSITE SIDES OF THE STACK HAVING JAWS FOR ENGAGING THE SIDES OF THEPENULTIMATE CONTAINER OF THE STACK PROJECTING ABOVE THE BOTTOMCONTAINER; FIRST RESILIENTLY YIELDABLE MEANS URGING THE SAID FIRST PAIROF ARMS OUTWARDLY TO POSITONS CLEAR OF THE CONTAINERS; SECONDRESILIENTLY YIELDABLE MEANS URGING THE SAID SECOND PAIR OF ARMSINWARDLY; MEANS FOR MOVING SAID FIRST ARMS INWARDLY TO CAUSE THE JAWSTHEREOF TO ENGAGE THE BOTTOM CONTAINER OF THE STACK AGAINST THE ACTIONOF SAID FIRST RESILIENTLY YIELDABLE MEANS WHILE HOLDING THE SECOND PAIROF ARMS CLEAR OF THE STACK AGAINST THE ACTION OF THE SAID SECONDRESILIENTLY YIELDABLE MEANS AND FOR RELEASING THE SAID FIRST PAIR OFARMS UNDER THE ACTION OF THE FIRST RESILIENTLY YIELDABLE MEANS TO CAUSETHE JAWS THEREOF TO ENGAGE THE SAID PENULTIMATE CONTAINER WITH THE SAIDSECOND PAIR OF ARMS AND DISENGAGE THE SAID FIRST PAIR OF ARMS FROM THESTACK; STRIPPING MEANS SLIDABLY ATTACHED TO THE SAID SECOND PAIR OF ARMSFOR EXERTING A DOWNWARD FORCE AGAINST THE BOTTOM CONTAINER OF THE STACKWHEN THE SAID FIRST PAIR OF ARMS ARE IN THE RELEASED POSITION AND THEPENULTIMATE CONTAINER IS SUPPORTED BY SAID SECOND PAIR OF ARMS; SAIDMOVING MEANS COMPRISING RODS MOVABLE IN PATHS ADJACENT TO SAID ARMS, ANDBLOCKS SLIDABLY ATTACHED TO THE SAID SECOND ARMS, AND BLOCKS HAVINGSLOTS IN WHICH SAID RODS ARE DISPOSED, SAID BLOCKS HAVING CAMMINGSURFACES FOR ENGAGING SAID RODS, SAID RODS BEING ROTATABLY MOUNTED ALONGTHEIR LONGITUDINAL AXES AND HAVING ECCENTRIC PORTIONS IN CAMMING CONTACTWITH THE BLOCKS TO VARY THE LIMITS OF MOTION OF THE ARMS IN ORDER TOADAPT THE DEVICE TO DIFFERENT SIZES TO CONTAINERS.